newt doesn't have that. >> and on other point, just listen to alex and eric and the hand ringing. >> we are almost at the top of the hour, an hour at 2 a.m., that none of us expected to be here at. let's look at the vote count as it stand right now. >> anderson, stand by a second. we got news. we want to welcome back our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. look at this. look at what is going on in iowa right now. one precinct still has it report the results but as of right now, four votes, four votes separate rick santorum who is at the top and mitt romney 29,968 to 29,964. viewers who are just tuning in right new, ron paul has come in third. newt gingrich fourth. rick perry, come in fifth but he

is getting ready to fly it texas to reassess whether he should bother, whether he should continue in new hampshire and south carolina. michele bachmann coming in sixth. she says she will continue but we will see if she does. jon huntsman in new hampshire. we are waiting it speak with the chair of the republican committee right now that is going to announce that one final precinct. we are going to speak to that precinct captain shortly. we will try to find out what is going on. has there been a snag, a snafu, a hanging chad. we don't know what is going on. but one precinct would colorado make the difference between who is number one, number two and how much of a gap there is. let's go over and talk to all of our contributors and friends. anderson, i think we will get that precinct captain pretty soon, on the phone, and we will hear what the problem is, if there is a problem. because we want to know. who is the winner. >> i was going to say, what do you want to say to that precinct

captain. >> i want to say, tell us what you know. >> do you want to occupy him on the phone? shouldn't he be finishing up the votes? >> one precinct, that's all that stands -- >> do we have a sense, john, of how many votes? is it still up for grabs? >> no. we don't know what the precinct is, we don't note size of the precinct tp on one hand it is important we get them so someone will win and claim the moral victory. on the other hand, let's be honest, rick santorum, whether romney passes him o and beats him with two or 12 votes or santorum beats him by a few votes, it is a draw. >> you keep saying a drawing, psychologically. if it is romney, so what. if it is rick santorum that wins and beats mitt romney, that's a big story. >> much more dramatic story for rick santorum to say.

i'm paraphrasing here, i spent $1, you spent $10 million. >> if it is four votes, we can agree, he can still sing. >> i think rick santorum already has a moral victory. >> and the question is, who can sustain, who can rebuild. romney has fall back. in new hampshire he has a vacation home. former massachusetts governor. but also history. very strong four years ago. huckabee causing a collapse in new hampshire. this is a tie, a moral victory for rick santorum. what is the impact in our early poll showed little impact for romney. if that holds out, remember, one week. one week. an lot of time for other people to recover in a state where romney has infrastructure. no question about resources. fe wins new hampshire we move on. >> some have said that romney has evaded scrutiny until this point. now moving forward, you have jon huntsman who has been dedicated to new hampshire, who is

focusing on squarely on romney. have you a certainly a reenergized gingrich focusing on romney. i assume santorum is as well. it changes the dynamic. >> it'll change the dynamic because you are going to have, here there is the morning ad in the manchester, the union heard of new hampshire they call it now, newt gingrich in color. mitt romney in black and white. you are attacking your opponent. you are in nice color, he is black and white. newt gingrich will try to peel the skin off of romney. santorum will do not in not such -- not going to do in such an aggressive way. but to say, is a conservative way. i would just add this though, these ads will get tougher. there is two debates this weekend. however the one place where everybody has heard this time and time again, is in new hampshire. none of this will be new to them. the question is does it have an impact. >> people think that newt gingrich got hurt in iowa just

because of the pro romney super pacs. it wasn't just that. it was the ron paul advertising. >> exactly. >> when way is in iowa last week, i heard a lot of ron paul campaign commercials really going after newt gingrich. >> serial hypocrisy. >> yeah, serial hypocrisy. here is the thing about newt. i have covered him far long time. he is the most effective attack politicians, i have ever covered. >> but ari said attacking him is like a porcupine who lacks direction. >> but he duck sesucceeded in t. his problem is that he has a different brand now. he tried to rebrand himself and become a different politician. >> isn't the reality, that mr. nice guy newt isn't working. >> but it is hard to go from saying that you want to be mr. nice guy and aren't these ads terrible to running these ads. >> don't you think where gingrich is very effective, i think the gloves will come off.

>> oh, yeah. i think the debates will get nasty. >> and ways do going to say there, ron paul will go after santorum now as well. he avoided that pretty much because santorum was out of picture. >> a few days ago, everyone was saying as long as mitt romney was coming in second or third it was fine. now here we are in almost a virtual tie. he is failure for not having a massive win. just the whole rhetoric around the conversation really changed because he is coming in so much closer. >> i don't think it is not so much he is failure just that he seems to have this ceiling. that he can't punch through. >> right. >> it is more focused on now because he is so close to winning where as a few days ago -- >> i think santorum came from nowhere. >> it is his moment, don't read too much into that. yet, here we are. >> he personally misplayed the expectations game. they set kpek expectations way

high that he would stay out there tonight that he would win bp that's the sense. for him to come in with basically a tie hurts him. but the other part of this is, this contest actually plays out state by state. but it is playing out on national television. and there is a quality, if you can address how obama ran the campaign four years ago, he gained national state as he won a state. it was like wow he pulled that off. four years ago out of iowa, do you remember that speech? >> tell me this, could santorum raise big money in a short period of time now? could people watch that speech, as we all did, and feel moved enough to think he has a chance and actually back limb? >> i think people need to see what he will do it in new hampshire. >> and south caroline too. >> and south carolina too. >> he will definitely get plor money. not the money it takes to go all the way. he needs win somewhere. >> a big donor, they will say economically i can see this, but

it comes with the caveat of, but he is way too conservative or way too extreme. not that they want, but from what i'm hearing from big donors, there's a real hesitation. >> but to go back to what carville has been saying, there is more about weakness, division, fractured party, unable to find a candidate. not a high turn out. that's the kind of thing that can hurt someone like mitt romney in a head-on against barack obama. national polls will show, i think weakening of his position. that will play back into this. >> it just looks like a party that is holding its nose. and saying, all right. >> we haven't got a better option. >> we will just may have to -- >> barack obama tonight will feel good. >> he is a guy who should be in trouble. if you look at numbers and look at his performance and you know, look at 45% approval rating, has been for months -- >> let's bring under some republicans here.

ari, are you depressed tonight? >> no, i think is nonsense. i think people are way overplaying the impact of one meaningless caucus night. no delegates are even selected. i think with this many candidates, math says it is hard to get above 25, 30%. john mccain won with just 33%. so it doesn't really matter what your percentage is. there's a long trend you have to look at. it'll take place the next several weeks, maybe a month or two. then have you a nominee. that's what it is all about. >> tea party activist, you're all confused tonight. >> i'm disappointed. yes and no, for the same reasons stated. these are, no one is walking away a winner take all tonight but at the same time, you look at the field and there were tea party activists that were caucusing tonight. and strong conservatives and here you still have someone who is very -- at antithesis all they stood for, number one. 25% --

>> does it feel like a divided republican party -- >> completely. there is a huge faction. i think the republican party wants to underestimate the power of this faction. they don't want romney. >> let me go to wolf. do we have numbers here? >> we don't have numberes. let me talk to -- we have two women calling in, we called them from clinton county from the republican party in clinton county. that's not far from davenport. not far from dubuque. in the eastern part of iowa i happen it have been there last week. edith is joining us. edith, can you hear me? >> caller: yes i can. >> carolyn with is with you too? >> caller: yes. >> carolyn, tell us your last time. >> caller: towel et. >> what is your job? ? >> caller: president of clinton county women. chair of the precinct. and i have been on the central committee for many years. >> all right. is it your precinct that still

has not reported the official results? >> caller: no, it is not mine. i received a call at about 12:20 from the state central committee asking if i knew how to get a hold of someone from 22. that time they gave me a name and i tried calling, because it is late here. they were in bed. and the claire was also in bed. >> so what you are saying is -- >> caller: so i came to edith's home and pounded on the door and woke her up and got her up. >> so edith, tell bus this precinct tp is it in clinton county still not reporting the results? >> caller: no. the results from -- it is clinton second ward second precin precinct. and the results were called in at 7:48 p.m. this evening. >> so what you are saying is that all of the precincts in clinton county have under fact

reported, is that what you are saying, edith? >> yes i am. >> is that your information as well, carolyn? >> caller: that's what i understand. but i also understand that possibly the state party did not have the information from clinton 22. >> so it looks like there is a snafu. hold on ladies, if you don't mind. john, show us where clinton county is in iowa. there seems to be a problem that the statewide republican party says they didn't get some results from clinton county. though these two women who seem to be in charge of the republican precincts in clinton county, they say they did call in. >> they say this they did. dubuque, cedar rapids, clinton county, here in eastern iowa, 1.7% of the statewide po population. let me ask you, edith, madam clairewoman -- we had romney winning, santorum in second place. let me ask you this, if there is miscommunication and the state party hasn't added this precinct in yet, did rick santorum carry

any of the precincts and do you know who carried the one precinct that state central committee says it didn't have. who won? >> caller: mitt romney won with 51 votes. santorum and paul tied with 33 votes each. >> so that's 51 to 33. if this is the plmissing precin wolf. add it up, mitt romney wins by 20-something votes. but we don't know that. we don't know that state didn't count it by accident. you are certain that all of your data was relayed to the state central committee. what is their kpla nation explanation when you call back and say, it's not our problem. >> caller: well, ryan called her and he called carolyn. we called limb back, i don't know, 15, 20 minutes ago, just before you people called. and we gave him the figures. and they should have the figures now. >> this is an interesting --

>> so what you are saying -- >> >> caller: i'm sure they will report it shortly. >> what you are saying carolyn and edith, 97% reporting in clinton county we have on the board, which is the official number coming in, that should change fairly soon to a hundred percent and if the numbers that they are telling us, john, are accurate, that would put mitt rom flee over the top. and he would win and we will see. let me just double-check with carolyn and edith. do you have all of the numbers from all of the -- how many precincts are there in clinton county? >> caller: there are 30 precinctses. >> of all 30, as far as you know, reported. >> caller: oh, yes. >> every single one. >> caller: every single one. >> what is the total for clinton county, romney, santorum, paul? >>. >> caller: oh, god. >> caller: oh, god, i had it -- i added them up a couple times. oh, man.

i show romney coming up with a total of 437 votes for clinton county. santorum had 354. perry had 73. paul had 292. huntsman, 12. gingrich 11. michele bachmann 62 and there were five votes for herman cain. >> that would be the difference wolf. that would be the difference. the numbers we received at romney at 386, ron paul atpaul . that would be enough. if this is the missing precinct, that would be enough right there to make mitt romney narrowly, narrowly -- >> if that's the 3% missing. >> if this is what is missing. and we need the state's central

committee it clear this up. but the numbers do not match the numbers we just received from the county chairwoman in clinton county. >> caller: what do you mean the numbers don't match? >> i will explain it to you. john, you go ahead and explain it. >> the numbers madam chairwoman, i'm not questioning your numbers. i'm saying that the numbers you are giving does not match what state gave so far from your county. if your numbers are missing that precinct and these are the final numbers from clinton county, excuse my scribble but 437, not 386. 354 not 321, that would make romney the winner in the state of iowa. we think we solved the problem but we are not the official voice here. the chairman would have to make this decision in the end and i'm sure the chairman is having a delightful meeting. >> you want do have you anything

you want to add? >> caller: we didn't know what the final was when they called me. >> edith or carolyn, anything you want to tell our view sflers? >> caller: no, i just know that those figures were originally called under at 7:48 by the person in charge from that precinct. and the precinct chair and secretary handed me the -- they sat down and completed all of their forms. and then they brought me up the forms and i came home. >> all right. so we -- just to be precise, we didn't wake you up, the state chairs in des moines, they called you, they woke you up, is that right? >> caller: no. i woke her up. this is carolyn. >> carolyn woke her up to get the numbers. >> caller: we were waiting for the results when i was told by the party. so i came to wake up edith who

didn't answer her phone. >> you ladies don't have any fresh coffee brewed, do you? >> caller: no, but i think i'm ready for it. >> i think we may have solved this mystery. and if we did, romney would win the entire state. not by much. a little bit. but it would win. ladies, if can you hold on o with us a for a moment. stand by. candy crowley is standing by at romney headquarters. what are you learning? >> what we are learning is that there are folks inside the romney campaign who have been told that in fact won by 14 votes. i'm trying to pin down who they were told that by. i don't know if you were here but we were inundated with the lots of young staffers who had also heard that. so the number they heard was 14 votes. those higher up in the romney campaign have also heard it and they say that we should expect to hear from the state fairly soon.

although it is 2:00. so i don't think anything is fairly soon. but you know what i mean. >> if the two ladies we were speaking to in clinton county, if their math is correct, that would make sense. numbers they say they gave to des moines to the republican leadership, it would have given romney a very, very narrow win in the state. but we will wait for the official numbers. >> they say here 14 votes. >> what you are saying is romney aides -- they say they have been notified that romney has won, is that what they are saying? >> they have been told. so i think notified is the wrong word. it is hard for me to track down at this point, we are trying to track down where it started. where they heard from. >> all right, candy, if you hear more let us know. let me go back it john. the information from rom flee's aides, would sort of be in line with what our friend in clinton county are telling us.

>> it would be in line with general narrative. my math is not perfect but this adds up, in my looking at it, more than 14 votes. so that means there were adjustments somewhere else, if you came into it with santorum slightly ahead. but this is the missing link, there is what the state was reporting to us and is still officially reporting to us. romney 386. clinton county chairwoman told us 327. there you see enough after georgia gap right there. for mitt rom flee to make up what we were told was a slight santorum lead. if you add there in, that gives you slight romney lead. i don't think it is exactly 14. but if they are adjusting the numbers, we will wait for the initial announcement from the state bp but that is pretty enterprising there wolf, getting the chairwoman there in her county. good phone call to make. >> yeah, preston, he did that, a good guy.

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an amazing moment here at the cnn election center. we are trying it figure out that the one precinct who hasn't reported to the republican leadership in des moines. right new 99% of precincts have reported. but apparently one hasn't. rick santorum, top by four votes, 29,968 to romney's 29,964. but by are told that precinct is in clinton county in the eastern part of iowa. you heard us speak to the two women in charge of the county over there and john, they said they were reported the numbers, which are very different than the numbers that are still the

official numbers for clinton county in iowa. we have 97%. official numbers, romney with 386 to santorum's 321. but they say the none numbers are different. >> watch this. now if any of the nuns who taught me at st. marks see this, i was never get a scribble but the state told us there for clinton county. chairwoman told us know, romney got 437, santorum got 354 and gingrich got 292. ready, let's go a little path. 30015. that's romney. 30001, that's santorum. what did racandy crowley tell u he won by in 14. >> those ladies are correct. >> they seem to have solved the

miflt mystery. er with waiting for the republican party. but this adds up. this is my skibl and this is cnn animal but it matches what candy crowley was saying. we are waiting the final word. there was one precinct as you not noted, ward two, precinct two. their new numbers, whenned up to the official numbers, gets you 14-vote margin for governor mitt romney of massachusetts. >> you saw candy said that aides to romney, she is over at headquarters. all right. we are just getting a two-minute warning from the spokesperson from the republican party in iowa. let's go over to the table and bring in the whole team over here. let's discuss. we will get the official

announcement. but it looks like the math we got from edith and carolyn, our ladies in clinton county. anderson, who would have thought. >> that was the best live phone call. >> that was it. >> ever. >> edith and carolyn, they knew what they were talking about. >> they can run in new hampshire. >> they are -- >> and they picked the phone up. >> interesting. they gave us the correct numbers. jn did the math. candy heard from romney's aides. they were told that romney wins the state by 14 votes. we checked the math. anderson, 14 votes. >> i love it when they said, you thought their numbers were wronwrong what do you mean our numbers are wrong? >> i know you were -- >> one said they stayed up to watch cnn waiting for the results. little did they know, they held the key. >> apparently they had to be persuaded. they were not anxious to go on the air and folks here at cnn got them on the phone.

>> they said, i'm always nervous about getting people to talk to us on the air but it could be a prank phone call but mark reached out to these ladies, the ladies took the call. >> they didn't sound like howard stern listeners. >> no. >> this is a republican night. any good conservative can tell you, go to the locals. there you go. we went to the locals. >> edith is trending now number one. i'm not making this up. this is true. >> really? >> edith is trending. >> have we solved the mystery of what happened between the phone call and the recording? >> we will find out. we will hear from the spokesperson for the republican party in iowa who will make the official announcement. >> have you ever seen anything like this, john? >> no. >> no, i would prefer to be sleeping or at last call at the moment. but 2:30 a.m. in the east, 1:30 a.m. in iowa. they are an hour ahead of us. they are rested an ready in des

moines. this is remarkable. but let's not beat up on the state republican party. there are confusions. this is the closest contest in their state's history. >> in a republican caucus. >> how many times has anybody won in iowa and won in new hampshire and not become the nominee? >> you would have to go back to george w. bush. but -- not even. only if reelection campaign. we have not had in the modern era, have not had in the modern era, especially on the republican side, someone win iowa then new hampshire. >> if romney edged it, claims victory, go to new hampshire, president obama probly win there. won't twice. this is a big thing. >> not as big as it might have been. >> thumping -- >> that's right. >> winning by 14 votes is 14 votes. >> still a win. >> i know you don't think they managed expectations. but these were people that

weren't going to compete in iowa then decided to compete in iowa. romney spent how many days in state in less than two weeks total. >> less than two weeks. >> he did advertising money at the end and his friends in his political action committee what is not officially part of the campaign -- >> i understand your point but it is not like it was in 2008 where romney spent $10 million. >> i want to wring in rolland because i know he's been trying to get in. >> how many delegates were at stake tonight? to win the republican nomination, you need to win delegates. that's what this is all about. we have been waving our hands. talking about a fractured gop, what will happen. we saw alex and eric. this is why you run primaries. i think for some reason we think after two or three races it should all be decided. this is why you run. the state by state will sort it out. you have massed the numbers. you count them up, do you have

2268. so we keep freaking out, oh, my god, what is going on here. this is an election. >> when is the last republican race where we had a delegate koun in the election. we had that last time in the clinton obama race. >> this is why it is called the new normal. >> 76 for you. >> this is the new normal. what ways saying is, we are sitting here talking about a fractured election. different kind of conservatives. precisely. so you go from iowa, new hampshire, florida, south carolina. then down the lane. so we are going to get to that number. somebody is going to win that number. this is why you're running. >> do you see this beg a long race? >> it has all of the potential to especially with proportionate rules. >> right. >> this is such a wide open republican field. you have one powerful front-runner, challenger emerges and the front-runner prevails. this trend is off because there is such a quality among the

candidates and weakness of mitt romney where he can't get above the hump. but again the divide and conquer is what he is counting on. so it is a very unusual cycle for republicans but rolland is exactly right. primary at a time and it may be over in february. it may be over in march. this is how our primary system is bill. >> hold on a second, guys. let's listen under to the gop media center. think i we are going to get the official results. let's see if we can lear what he is saying. we are going to get the audio. as soon as we get the audio we will hear what they are saying. i believe they are announcing the official result. stand by for a moment. all right. david, can you read lips? >> i think he is just saying that mitt romney has won by 14 votes. >> we don't know that. but i'm sure somebody is listening, somebody is paying attention. we are going to check that audio. hopefully it'll come in -- >> someone will hold a cell phone up.

>> not yet. >> i can't believe it. >> oh, no. >> a dramatic moment indeed. >> we had six hours to get ready for this. >> you would have thought. >> this is matt straw, state republican chairman. a good guy having an interesting night. >> maybe we can speak to him on the phone afterwards and get edith and carolyn to join in on the conversation. i know they are working ton right now. matt is a very good guy in iowa and he is explaining this last-minute snafu. can we call it a snafu. >> it is officially a snafu. whatever happens, this is officially the closest ever iowa caucus. >> yes of course, yeah. >> who is he explaining this to. >> i guess he is reporting to the media. there are cameras there. you see the cnn estimate, romney the win by 14 votes. here we go. now let's listen in. >> congratulationses to governor mitt romney, winner of the 2012

iowa caucuses. congratulationses to senator santorum for a very close second place finish, an excellent race here and congratulationses to congressman paul and all of the other can dates who competed in the 2012 caucuses. have a good night. >> what is the final turn out. >> final number is 122,255. thank you, everybody. >> all right. there you heard matt straum. eight votes, he said that romney is the winner by eight votes over rick santorum. ron paul third. how many total turn out did they say. >> 122,255. >> like 118, 119 four years ago. so a little bit more. not much more. certainly not close to the 220,000 or so that turned out four years ago in the democratic caucuses. >> do you think the whole issue of whether that is an energized republican base or not, what is your view having seen so many. >> i think the last time around, i think that's a record, 119 or

118,000. a little bit more. so i'm sure they will be happy. though i had heard from other republicans they were hoping for 140 or 150,000. that would have really shown some energy. >> and they got independent voters here. presumably. because of ron paul as our numbers showed. so you wouldn't say it is exactly an energized turnout. >> but the republican party in iowa says that mitt romney is the winner by eight votes over rick santorum. anderson? >> amazing stuff. now we know sfor sure. james, what does it mean? >> it means that if there is any award for investigative journalism, in television, if we don't get it, there is no justice in the world. that is the greatest moment i've ever seen. the whole night was unbelievable and that capped it off. folks this has been one weird race so far and it really got there tonight. i can't wait for new hampshire. something's got to happen.

>> i will say new hampshire will be even closer than iowa. >> really? >>. no. >> south carolina, we still have maul but that's what i'm looking for. >> and the race will get nastier from here. >> oh, yes. exponentially. >> or more delicious in james carville's -- >> if you don't have anything nice to say, go set by james. >> it is obvious they have a weak front-runner chased by weak challengers. that can produce some pretty interesting stuff. you know, two bad football teams playing can be a pretty good game. >> as to the point earlier, the different states that we're about to see over the next month, also play a role in that. so you talk about south carolina. then what happens in in the bottom? what happens in colorado, minnesota, missouri? all those different issues come into play? how do certain candidates appeal

to voters in those particular areas? so again, they got to run it out. but you got to get the numbers. but the other point, tonight's delegates, none were played. they will be chosen in, in june. so it is not like all of a sudden you say, fine, you won the race and you won 25 delegates so you can start the clock. >> go from here in new hampshire, off dwrusly where mitt romney is the favorite. south carolina, florida key. but then there is a big pause in the month of february. there are five contests in february. maine, and three states that have generally significant mormon population. mitt romney should do well under a quiet february then to march with super tuesday. this has a lot of time ahead of it. a quiet february left in front us. >> yes. >> let's take a look the at actual numbers. wolf? >> anderson, take a look. the most important number we have is at the bottom of the screen. 100%.

that's what we are waiting for. 100% of precincts now officially reported the iowa caucuses and take a look at this. mitt romney, you see that check. he is the winner, 30,015. rick santorum, second, 30,007 votes. mitt romney wins by a grand total of eight votes. eight votes. ron paul third. newt gingrich fourth. and you saw the others earlier. an amazing moment. mitt romney wins, albeit, narrowly, on the other hand, john, a win is a win. >> a win is a win. and you have watched. this is our final number, wolf. this is our final number from the iowa republican party. 30,015 to 30,007. thanks fot great work of our ladies helping us crack the end of the difference. clinton county, you don't think of thiss much. 32% to 22%. this county made the difference for governor romney tonight. if you pull out this map and look at the breath of this, you

see a lot of purple. that's rig santorum doing a very well. a lot of comparison to the mike huckabee. huckabee had all this orange four years ago. santorum all this purple this year. that's where you find your tea party voters. evangelical born again christians. governor romney's win, as narrow as it is, comes because he ran up he can sent margins by iowa standard in bigger placees. 12.8%. nearly 13% lives in polk county. governor romney did well there. if you come out east, cedar rapids in lindh county. santorum third there. that's one of the reasons. as you watch this now, you have the closest race in iowa caucus history. wow. governor romney wins. you want to see something eerie? 25%. 3,015. we go back four years. governor rom romney, 30,021

votes. he spent $10 million this time. >> in 2008. >> in 2008. he spent less this time. six votes. >> so we have -- we are going to take a closer look at what this all means. well take a quick break. where do we go from here? much more of our coverage, let me repeat it, much more of our coverage, when we come back. you're watching us at the cnn election center, and we're watching the iowa caucuses. ide . and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol's stayed down. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. it's backed by over 19 years of research. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems

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welcome back to our event, e iowa caucus. ali is at the social media wall.

>> say it, the wall. edith and carolyn, who helps us solve this mystery on tv, are trending on twitter and worldwide. edith, carolyn and edith and carolyn and guess what sells trending sp. >> what? cnn after dark is trending. bom chicka bowbow. >> not that kind. >> this one says i really could swear it is lucy and edith that cnn is talking to. this is from our jim spellman who spends a lot of time-out there. he says edith and carolyn deserve their own woeebles. you know, piers's executive producer, has been hanging around, they add show to do, but didn't quite work out that way.

set your calenders now to the iowa caucus baby boom in nine months. >> we saw the numbers decreasing ought number of tweets coming in. they have woken up again. >> they have woken up. >> edith and carolyn, thank you for your contribution to excellent journalism. >> this th that is the best live phone call i have heard on the air. wolf back to you. >> we are going to try to get them on the phone in the next few minutes. i want to thank them for solving this mystery. edith and carolyn, good friend, friends of all of ours right few. we will talk to them. i hope they didn't go back it sleep. what do you think? >> i think it was a great moment in america. it shows that people around the world are watching right now. you are looking at with all these countries of democracy under question. you realize that it still comes done to people counting things and caring so passionately about getting it right. and enough women did their work and they were offended to hear

that someone might question them. i wrote a them down. 437 romney, 151 gingrich wsh all the way down, five for herman cain. >> i don't want to be the person who messed it up. >> what i drew, coincidentally, when i interviewed mitt romney last week, we drove in his bus from davenport to clinton county. he went to a rally. so he may have gotten those eight votes by showing up in clinton county on that day to speak to the folks there and they liked him. there was a big crowd. he did well and he wins the iowa caucus. not by much, piers, but he wins. >> i come back to a win is a win. if three months ago you were told would you win in iowa you would be thrilled. but a you would think, i would be second or third in new hampshire. he won the first one. he will probably win the next one. >> we have great news. anderson, please. i want you to join in this

conversation. guess what? joining us now on the phone, edith and carolyn. [ applause ] let me start with edith. thank you so much. on behalf of all of us, on behalf of the american people, thank you for clearing up this mystery. tell us how you feel right now, edith? >> i'm just so overwhelmed with all of this. overwhelmed. >> you're happy? >> i'm very happy with what has happened here. but i'm amazed. because really and truly, my people did call this in tonight and i don't know where the glitch was. i did hear from romney campaign about 11:20. and i gave them the figures. then i went to bed. and it has been kind of interesting to wake up. >> very interesting. let's get the reaction from carolyn. how do you feel about this, carolyn? you were huge in solving this

great mystery. >> well, i guess if i hadn't answered my phone the mystery would still be going on, wouldn't it? >> fortunately you did. was it your cell phone or hard line. >> my cell phone. >> anderson, talk to these ladies. they want to hear from you. >> you're trending worldwide apparently on twitter, i just learned. are you big on twitter? >> not so good. i just got an -- an ipad for christmas but i don't know how to work it yet. >> would you ladies like to be the co-anchors of a new cnn program, cnn after dark. >> very exciting moment in the history of iowa. and the iowa caucus. can we ask you ladies, are you happy that the winner of the iowa caucus says mitt romney? edith, first to you. edith? >> are you gone? >> i'm happy that it's won. as county chairman, did not take

a -- a stand. as to who i voted for this evening. and i did not share that. our central committee decided we would remain neutral. work to pro plomote all of the candidates as they came into our county. they were very thrilled last week when mitt romney came. i'm told we had r507 to a thousand people. unfortunately i was not able to attend that event as my mother's cousin had died. and i felt my duty was to my family that day. and i attended her funeral. >> i represented you at that event, edith. ways there in clinton county at that event. and you gave the right answer, by the way, as chair. you know, you shouldn't tell us how you voted. on the other hand, carolyn, may want to share how you feel. >> i have the same obligation as central committee member. i shared my caucus tonight.

i had no partiality as far as public and privately i won't share who i voted for. >> how many years do you two ladies have combined in republican politics in your county? >> i worked for two congressmen for 18 years. and i worked in the party l locally for quite a while. i would say 30 years. >> i ask because i had an e-mail from a veteran activist. this is what they said about you. we know them well. everyone loves carolyn and fears edith. >> i'm sure that could be true about the fear, i'm not sure about the love for carolyn. >> edith has been doing politics since 1972 in this county. my late husband was elected county chairman in 1975. and i've been actively involved since then. >> may i ask, how do you --

>> this is by the way, edith and car carol, this is david. you have probably seen him on cnn. >> yes i have. >> thank you both so very, very much. i'm curious how people in iowa will feel about how close this has been. this is the closest outcome we have ever had in an iowa primary. and in fact, a lot of research suggests that it is the closest we have seen in american politics in any primary or caucus over the last 20 years. how should the -- the media will spend a lot of time trying to interpret this. how do you interpret what is good willing on there tonight? it's been absolutely fascinating. >> i don't know. i don't know that i have an answer to that. at 11:20 when the romney campaign staffer called me and he indicated to me that it was very, very close. i thought, boy this is very unusual for iowa. but i think it tells you that

iowans are looking at this very closely. and we think before we vote. and i realize this is extremely unusual. but i don't have an answer as to how we are going to perceive this. do you, carolyn? >> carolyn? >> i just wanted iowa to look good to knit. i wanted good participation. i wanted whom ever we voted for to go forward. and gosh, i just want them to beat president obama. >> edith? >> whoever that person will be. >> edith, this is gloria borger here. >> we will work for either candidate. >> okay. i want to ask you about turnout because our numbers show that there weren't that many more this time than there were in 2008. there were about 122,000 this time.

do you consider that successful? >> yes, i do. yes, i do. >> even with all of the talk about all of the enthusiasm on the republican side? would you have expected more? you didn't? >> well, i would have expected more. i would have hoped for a few more. but i think iowans really want to meet these candidates and many of these candidates chose the larger cities to come into. like they expected us to do to davenport. and then realized that clinton county is the tenth largest county in iowa. that has a lot to say. and that we are very concerned as to who our presidential candidate is. governor alluded to this earlier

in summer, in august, that he felt they needed to come into all of the counties and rick santorum did that. >> he certainly did. edith, carolyn, unfortunately we have to go. but piers morgan is here and he has one final question he with a nts to ask the two of you. piers? >> yes, ladies. congratulations on a magnificent performance this evening. >> thank you. >> do either of you have an agent? [ laughter ] >> because if you don't, i would like to apply for the job. i think you will be pretty busy. >> oh, it's been kind of fun. it is good to be a part of history. >> certainly is. >> a small part. >> thank you very much. >> edith and carolyn, get some sleep. you guys are going to be busy. there is a picture. are you guys watching? edith and carolyn, are you watching tv right now? >> not right now. >> you're not watching cnn right now, are you? >> we're in a different room right now. >> because edith is right in the middle of our screen right there.

>> there is our picture? >> eed inl you got there with the governor. you have done amazing work. all of us are proud of you. democracy in action. you know what, from little kids, we always learn that every vote counts and that was underscored on this day. thanks to you, thanks to everyone in iowa. for underscoring to the world and whole world has been watching here on cnn. they have been watching this show unfold. and we want to make it clear that democracy is good. every vote counts. guys, thanks very, very much. edith and carolyn. you can't make this stuff up. >> no. >> it is what makes this country so amazing. >> good a good night's sleep, ladies. we will speak tomorrow. we will take one more quick break. much more of our coverage under a moment. ♪

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a hundred percent of the precincts in iowa have now been counted. the results have been sent. mitt romney wins the iowa caucuses, but not by much. by eight votes. 30,015 votes for romney, rick santorum, 30,007. ron paul in third, newt gingrich fourth. you get the point. anderson, it's been a dramatic, dramatic evening. >> dramatic in deed. funny at times. emotional at times. our coverage continues of the iowa caucuses. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in the cnn election center. we have viewers just tuning in right now. we want to tell you what has been a really dramatic and powerful moment in american history. iowa caucuses to